BooksForKidsBlog

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Little Insomniac: Good Night, Little Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

Mother Rainbow Fish has put him in a comfy bed of soft plants, but Little Rainbow Fish doesn't like the dark. He's afraid to close his eyes.

Mom has a bright idea.

I'LL SEND FOR THE LANTERN FISH!

The kindly lanternfish arrives to shine his little light in the dark sea floor. But Little Rainbow Fish still has some disturbing issues with going to sleep.

He asks Mother Rainbow Fish to stay with him, and she promises she will stay close. But Little Rainbow Fish can't help worrying. What if the tide goes out and takes him with it? What if Octopus releases a cloud of ink, and he can't find his way back to his little bed? What if a jellyfish takes that opportunity to tie him up in his trailing tentacles?

YIKES! Now that IS scary!

And then, what if he dozes off ... to sleep, perchance to dream? Even little fish can have bad dreams!

But Mother Rainbow Fish just ties Jellyfish's tentacles in an attractive bow and wraps her fins around Little Rainbow Fish. Save and secure, he finally drifts off to sleep, in Marcus Pfister's sweet lullaby of a board book edition of Good Night, Little Rainbow Fish (NorthSouth Books, 2017 ed.).

Author Marcus Pfister takes youngsters back to the time when the notoriously adventurous Rainbow Fish was a just a small insomniac minnow, fretting about the disturbing nighttime things that all youngsters worry about and needing reassurance that all is well before slipping gently into that good night. In this deep sea bedtime story, artist Phister's lovely signature illustrations are soft and soothing, done up with glowing greens and blues, accented with pinks and sparkles of gold.This little book is fine bedtime fare that also introduces a beloved picture book character to the very young.

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Mouse is psyched. She interrupts her friend Monster in standard mode, scarfing up a snack, with her big idea.

"Let's go camping!" she said.

"What's camping?" Monster asked.

"You walk in the woods. You sleep in a tent. You tell spooky stories." says Mouse.

Camping sounds scary, but Mouse says she'll take care of Monster. She also promises something Monster will love--tasty camp-out treats! Monster is ready to go right away, but Mouse makes a simple list--tent, two sleeping bags, food, and a lantern lamp. Monster loads up his red wagon, and they are OFF!

Mouse and Monster walk deep into the woods. Mouse hears the sound of a stream and offers to go ahead to reconnoiter. While Monster waits, he gets a little peckish.

Monster had a snack.

He eats the lamp.

Mouse returns and the two campers trudge down the trail. Mouse offers to go ahead and scout for campground markers. Monster agrees to wait, but he soon gets the munchies and chows down on their sleeping bags.

Following the trail markers, Mouse spies a hill ahead and offers to go up and check it out. Monster stays with the wagon, but while he waits, he wolfs down the tent. Mouse returns to announce she's found the perfect place to camp atop the hill.

Let's set up the tent!" said Mouse.

"Uh-oh," said Monster.

Monster has to 'fess up that he's eaten the sleeping bags and the tents. He's so sorry.

Mouse magnanimously says not to fret. It'll be fun to sleep on the grass under the stars, she says.

Hand me the lamp so I can find our food."

Ooops! Monster assures Mouse that the one thing he did not eat was their food. But this time it's Mouse's turn to confess a mea culpa.

"I forgot the food." she admits.

Mouse's campout is not panning out as promised! It's getting chilly and dark, and they are starving. But then Mouse spots a glimmer of light and smells something very much like roasting s'mores ahead. It's a family of campers, with a campfire, camp lamp, and cozy tents, and Dad is telling a scary story in a spooky voice:

All's well that ends well, as Monster appears the flickering firelight and the human family makes a hasty escape in their SUV. It would be a shame to let that cozy campsite go to waste, so Mouse and Monster have a classic campout after all, in Deborah Underwood's charming new picture book, Monster and Mouse Go Camping (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018). Mouse and Monster are the usual odd couple of unlikely buddies in a clever story in which Underwood drolly sets up a denouement in which Monster's sudden appearance clears the campsite in a trice. Underwood's delightfully daffy story is ably assisted by noted artist Jared Chapman, whose cartoon illustrations in comic color and line tell the story with stylish visual humor.

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

The Water's Fine! Spot Goes to the Swimming Pool by Eric Hill

The weather is warm and sunny and the pool is at last open. Spot and Mom are off for a dip, and Spot's friend Tom Gator and his mother are there already. Tom waves to invite Spot to join him. But Spot hesitates.

THE WATER IS LOOKING A BIT COOL, AND SPOT IS FEELING A LITTLE UNSURE.

There's all that splashing and shouting from the ones already in the pool and Spot hangs back. Mom notices his hesitation and assures him the water is fine--

... ONCE YOU GET IN...

But his buddies Tom and Steve the others are giggling and kicking, and floating around, and it looks like so much fun that Spot decides to take the plunge with his polka-dotted floatie.

And the water is FINE!

Eric Hill's new Spot Goes to the Swimming Pool (Frederick Warne, 2018) is out, just in time for pool openings all over. It's natural for little ones to be a bit intimidated by the busy pool setting, but it's almost sure that they'll learn that being in the swim is just another way to have fun in the sun. In Hill's charming illustrations, Spot is a great stand-in for introducing preschoolers to new experiences, and getting them on the way to learning to swim is an important skill and a new way to play with their friends. For more water play, pair this one with Eric Hill's Spot Goes to the Beach, complete with lift-the-flap discoveries for young would-be beachcombers.

Monday, May 21, 2018

Upgrade and Unplug! Doll-E 1.0 by Shanda McCloskey

Charlotte was not one of those little girls who dote on dollies and tea sets.

Charlotte's head was always in the clouds.

No, not those fluffy clouds in blue skies. Charlotte's favorite clouds are the data-storage sort.

Charlotte is a techno-cyber-whiz who prefers downloads to dolls, coding to cuddling plush critters, and virtual reality goggles to giggly tea parties. Even her little dog is named Blutooth.

Mom doesn't know where Charlotte got her consuming interest in IT, but she is happy for her help with all their internet-enabled devices.

Still, Mom feels that Charlotte needs more experience interacting with actual reality--so she gets her a doll and doll stroller to play with.

"Are there instructions?" asked Charlotte.

"I was thinking you could play house or doctor with it," said Mom.

But no matter what commands Charlotte gives her, Doll-E just sits there with the same silly smile on her face. But when Charlotte puts the doll down, it speaks.

"MA-MA!

"I'm not your MAMA!" Charlotte says.

Investigating the source of the voice, Charlotte discovers something she recognizes--a panel in the doll's back with batteries and wiring inside. At last! Here's something she can hack! Charlotte's brain goes into hyperdrive.

"I know! I could run an update on you! It's going to be awesome!"

Charlotte works on her program all night and at last Doll-E is ready for the installation.

"HELLO. MY NAME IS DOLL-E 1.0!"

And with Charlotte with the controller and Doll-E fitted with the proper electrodes in her helmet, the two are ready to walk the dog outside, with Doll-E pulled in her stroller by Blutooth, in Shanda McCloskey's brand-new debut picture book, Doll-E 1.0 (Little, Brown, 2018).

Charlotte is an engaging little girl techno-geek, resourceful and inventive, drolly portrayed by first-time author-illustrator Shanda McCloskey, who appropriately combines her comic pencil and watercolor drawings with Photoshop digital artistry in the creation of the her little technical wizard and her new, updated techie toy. Says School Library Journal, " McCloskey's picture book debut is not one to miss. A fun addition."

Not All It's Cracked Up To Be! Thelma the Unicorn by Aaron Blabey

Although Otis the Mule thinks the stocky little pony is perfect just the way she is, Thelma has bigger dreams. And one day it happened.

She saw it.
A carrot on the ground.

She tied it to her nose.

And without the wave of a fairy wand or a single bibbidy boppidy boo, Thelma is transformed. Upon her head is a spiraling, sparkly horn, her coat is pink, and her tail is long and silvery. She is a beautiful UNICORN.

And soon Thelma is living the glittery life of a celebrity idol. The fame of her beauty and charm spreads worldwide. Crowds follow wherever she goes. She has a worldwide fan base who greet her with banners that read

OMG! I 💖 YOU!

Thelma The Unicorn tours the world, making appearances before her adoring public, sailing the seven seas on her cruise ship, The Fairy Princess. Throngs await her at every port, swooning at her beauty and begging for her sparkly autograph. Fans await her everywhere, from early morn till midnight. It's great!

Until... it's NOT!

Thelma realizes that it's all a bit too much.

So much fame was kinda tricky, too.

You see, her fans were mad for her. They'd chase her everywhere she went.

It never ever stopped.

Thelma realizes that there's no escape from her fame. She's no longer herself; it's like her admirers own her! They are her FANS, so they feel entitled to follow her every move.

One dark night, she felt quite sad, this famous little pony.

She said, "I thought that I'd feel great..., but all I feel is lonely."

Heavy lies the head that wears the horn. Thelma finds it lonely at the top. There's only thing to do, and Thelma does it. Off comes the magic carrot, and Thelma the glamorous unicorn is no more. It's back to being an ordinary pudgy pony with good ol' Otis waiting to keep her company, in Aaron Blabey's little picture book parable of ditching the Disney delusion of fame, Thelma the Unicorn (Scholastic Press, 2018). Like Blabey's popular character Pig The Pug, Thelma longs for fame, but finds it folly, with artist Blabey providing a plenty of comic scenes along the way as Thelma flees her fans and returns to savor the simple life. Unlike the hopelessly self-absorbed Pig the Pug, though, Thelma emerges a reformed and more lovable character, and with her big smile and googly eyes intact, Thelma returns to her roots as artist Blabey's lovable illustrations poke fun at the glow of the glitterati.

Saturday, May 19, 2018

Fruit Basket Turn Over! Mrs. Peanuckle's Alphabet by Jessie Ford.

Bet you thought I 'd say APPLE! But both are fruits and both grow on trees.

Fruits can grow on vines, on bushes, and on trees.

BANANAS and COCONUTS both grow on trees, but one is long and a little soft, and the the other is round and veryhard.

RASPBERRIES grow on bushes, but GRAPES grow on vines, and both are soft and juicy when they are ripe.

And don't forget...

FIGS, fresh and delicious. Dried and nutritious.

From as exotic as JACKFRUIT or XIGUA, or as common as ORANGES and APPLES in the lunchbox, fruits are great foods for everyone, and Jessie Ford's Mrs. Peanuckle's Fruit Alphabet (Mrs. Peanuckle's Alphabet Library) (Macmillan, 2017) offers practice with the alphabet and a chance to get to know a wide variety of fruits, including TOMATOES, that very versatile fruit which often passes for a vegetable. Okay, it's not so sweet as most berries but essential for a savory sauce for spaghetti and pizza or to top a hamburger or hot dog.

For young abecedarians and young foodies alike, this little book does double duty, tempting youngsters to try a walk through the produce section to make up their own alphabet book of fruits. And, yes!APPLES count!

While Sheep 101 is carted off by the Sheep EMR team, a substitute reports for duty.

"WAIT! Who are you?"

"I'm Sheep 103."

"But... you're a COW!"

"Yeah, they ran out of sheep, so they called me. I usually jump over the moon, so this fence should be a breeze!

The rest of the sheep must have signed on with Little Bo Peep for the day shift, because a motley crew of fleeceless critters appear one at a time to take a crack at the fence--PIG, singing WEE WEE WEE, a BLIND MOUSE who can't even find the fence, and who's this? HUMPTY DUMPTY?? Gimme a, er, break!

There's no rest for the sleepless in Robert Morris's sleepytime tale, Sheep 101 (Little, Brown and Company, 2018), with witty dialog by author Morris and comic illustrations by Leuyen Pham that fairly pelt the reader with the sight gags until sweet dreams set in. A wild and woolly fractured folk tale of a story, this one will send kids to sleep with a smile on their faces. As Publishers Weekly puts it, "It's practically guaranteed that readers will go giggling into that good night!"

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Meet the Scientists: Scientist, Scientist, What Do You See? A Scientific Parody by Chris Ferrie

Scientist, scientist, what do you see?

I see Marie Curie in her laboratory.

That's the easily-recognized image of Albert Einstein, pointing out his famous contemporary Marie Curie with her iconic beaker. and in Chris Ferrie's new board book for precocious tots, Scientist, Scientist, Who Do You See? (Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky, 2018), there are plenty of pairs of notables from science and technology.

Chemist Ahard Zewail introduces Grace Hopper, Navy admiral and builder of early computers. Early wizard of electromagnetic energy, James Maxwell, introduces his own contemporary Ada Lovelace, Victorian mathemetician and creator of the calculator codes that led to twentieth century computers.

Maxwell, Maxwell, who do you see?

I see Ada Lovelace, making computer enquiry.

There are more scientists along the way, Allan Turing, co-cracker of the Nazi Enigma encoding machine, and Chien Shiung Wu, George Washington Carver, Anna Mani, and Katherine Johnson are also introduced. This book is one of the recent flurry of early childhood books presenting personalities and information about complex scientific subjects, such as Ferrie's earlier ABCs of Science (Baby University) Although little listeners will need to fill in their live's work in later reading, this newest by Ferrie gives youngsters a chance to meet a variety of scientists, male and female, from all over the globe.

Properly appreciating this little book presupposes some previous experience with Martin and Carle's perennial best seller, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? but even lacking that, the rhythmic question-and-answer format moves this list of science stars along splendidly. And even if preschoolers don't quite pick up on this artful parody, grownups reading these books aloud certainly will, especially if they've also read Ferrie's Goodnight Lab: A Scientific Parody (Baby University, Ferrie's earlier parody of Margaret Wise Brown's eternally best-selling Goodnight Moon. It's all in good fun for early childhood education, and that's got to be a good thing!

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Like a Fish in Water...: Forever or a Day by Sarah Jacoby

It can be precise, like pouring the first cup of tea or picking out the first shoe.

It's a drum beat. Ba dum Ba dum Ba dum Ba dum.

It can come and go and you never notice it's there. Where did it go?

We can't see it or hold it, but we know when it comes and goes. We're stuck in it, but never in the same place in it.

It can hang heavy on our hands, but it sometimes slips away.

Yes, it's TIME, in Sarah Jacoby's new book, Forever or a Day (Chronicle Books, 2018), which teases the reader a bit about its subject, but slyly shows its hand on the frontispiece, which shows a newspaper delivery van whose side reads TIMES. In a child's-eye-view of times passing, we see a bus stop with time-pressed passengers checking their watches, an airline time table with flights ON TIME or LATE, and we see good times on vacation where the kids long to go back in time for a do-over.

"Can we stay longer?"

It's a question to which there is only one honest answer.

We've only got what we've got.

There are good times and bad times, but the best times are those shared with those we love best.

Artist Jacoby shows close-ups of intimate times or lovely panoramas of sea, sky, and land done in a wash of watercolored images, some clear, some slightly out of focus like time remembered. This is beautiful and thoughtful book that introduces to young children the concept of time as something that both can and can't be measured by a clock, something of which we are usually no more aware than the fish is aware he is in water. Even Einstein found it a good thing to think about, and when you have the time, this is a good book to share.

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Expect the Unexpected! The True Adventures of Esther the Wonder Pig by Steve Jenkins et al

Esther was a little piglet.

She was rescued when she was six weeks old and arrived in a laundry basket.

She looked up at her dads with those eyes and that smile.

It was LOVE!

She was the littlest pet when she came to live in a small apartment that already had two dogs and two cats. But Esther was a good eater, and soon graduated from her basket to a cat bed. But she continued to grow--from cat beds to progressively bigger and bigger dog beds.

Her dads were confused.

"We thought she was supposed to be a mini-pig!" they said.

But when she looked up at the with those eyes and that smile, it was LOVE!

Esther ate everything she could find. She even broke the oven door--perhaps looking for dessert!

And Esther continued to grow. She outgrew the apartment, and they all moved to a small house. Esther got a single bed to sleep in, and then her own room with a double bed. But she outgrew that bed, too. By the time Esther hit 600 pounds plus, there was not enough space for anyone to sit in any room in the house. But when they looked at her, it was still--

LOVE!

So they loaded up everything, two dogs and two cats, and a now 650 pound pig and moved to a big farm, where there was plenty of space for a pig and other animals that needed rescuing, too. Even when Esther wandered off and was nabbed decimating a neighbor's apple tree,

When they looked at those eyes and that smile... it was LOVE.

Esther was part of the family, and families come in all shapes and sizes!

Following the success of their best-selling memoir, Esther the Wonder Pig: Changing the World One Heart at a Time Steve Jenkins, Derek Walter, and Caprice Crane adapted their story to picture book format, The True Adventures of Esther the Wonder Pig (Little, Brown and Company, 2018), a salute to the unforeseen consequences of pet ownership, not to mention LOVE! With the gently humorous illustrations of Cori Doerrfeld and photos of the real Esther the Wonder Pig, kids will love the story of the wonderful expanding pig and its plea for rescue pet adoption as well at their Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary. See more about Esther here

Monday, May 14, 2018

Free Time! Paddington's Day Off by Michael Bond

One day Paddington went out for a walk.

He went to see Mr. Gruber, who owned a shop in the Portobello Road market.

"It is such a beautiful day! Let's take the day off," said Mr. Gruber.

Hanging a CLOSED sign on his shop door, Mr. Gruber invites Paddington's friends Jonathan and Judy along and with a picnic lunch packed, the four of them set off, Mr. Gruber providentially taking along his suitcase with a map, guidebook, and opera glasses inside. After all, one never knows what a day with Paddington will bring!

Soon the jolly expedition has trekked far from home and enters the park.

"What's that sound?" said Mr. Gruber suddenly.

It's a band in the bandstand in the center of the park. And appropriately, they are playing the "Surprise Symphony!" What could the surprise be? While Mr. Gruber and the children are setting out their picnic, Paddinton strolls up to the bandstand to find out. Seeing a small door marked Private under the stage, Paddington opens it and walks right through, but when it closes behind him, he finds he's locked inside. It's rather dark and most unpleasant under there, and Paddington wants out. He picks up an old broom and begins to knock on the ceiling, which is actually the floor of the stage where the band is playing.

BUMP! BUMP! BUMP!

The conductor jumped!

Mr. Gruber notices that the music doesn't sound just right, and he also notices that Paddington is missing! Could there be a connection between those two things?

It's not exactly the surprise that Joseph Haydn had written in the score when the conductor opens the trapdoor onstage and Paddington climbs up from underneath.

"Oh! It's a bear," he observes.

Well, that is a surprise, as the very composed conductor hands over his baton to Paddington Bear to complete the "Surprise Symphony." It's not your usual day in the park, but as in Michael Bond's Paddington's Day Off (I Can Read Level 1) (Harper, 2017) there's always something unexpected where the very unusual Peruvian bear named Paddington is concerned.

With a series of perpetually popular children's novels beginning in 1958 with A Bear Called Paddington, and ending in 2017 with Bond's last novel, Paddington's Finest Hour, with a long-running cartoon series and two full-length Paddington movies (the 2014 Paddington and the 2018 Paddington 2) and now an I-Can-Read series by the venerable author himself, it seems that even with the death of Michael Bond in 2017 at the age of 91, Paddington will be there for children who promise to "Please look after this bear" for a long, long time.

Sunday, May 13, 2018

Someday.... When I Grow Up by Tim Minchin

"T0MORROW! TOMORROW!
I LOVE YA, TOMORROW!" sang the moppet in the red dress in the Broadway musical "Annie."

And now comes another strong-minded girl character, Matilda, from the Broadway play of the same name with much the same wishes for her future.

Matilda, the feisty creation of Roald Dahl in his eponymous children's fantasy novel, Matilda, is a young girl in an unenviable position, a pupil in a Kindergarten class run by an ill-concealed genuine witch, one who clearly hates children, especially spirited girls.

But possessed of the power of telekinesis, the doughty Matilda is not to be outdone by any teacher, and Tim Minchin's theme song tells it like it's going to be when Matilda reaches her majority!

When I grow up I will be
Tall enough to reach the branches I have to reach
To climb the trees
You get to climb,
When I grow up!

Matilda the Musical (billed as "By the Brilliantly BATTY Roald Dahl :) won multiple Oliviers and five Tony Awards, had a near five-year run at the Schubert Theater, and is still on the boards on a world tour, so composer-lyricist Tim Minchin's just published jolly picture book, When I Grow Up (Scholastic Books, 2018), based on the play's anthem, is a fine choice for introducing preschoolers to the classic fantasy novel and to the movie and Broadway musical. Author-illustrator Steve Anthony (creator of Please, Mr. Panda (A Board Book) and other popular picture books, (reviews here) provides the dancing, frolicking kids of the cast and the lead player Matilda, who is the anti-Peter Pan of musical theater, determined that she will grow up in charge of herself and take charge of the world besides.

Saturday, May 12, 2018

CRIB READY! Baby Animals (Indestructibles) by Stephen Lomp

THERE ARE ALL KINDS OF BABIES.

LIKE YOU, THEY LOVE TO PLAY.

Appealing puppies, kittens, elephant calves, ducklings, koala joeys, and turtle hatchlings--what little one could resist? With lively baby animals, portrayed in bright colors and playing under the watchful eyes of their parents, this little book comes with instant appeal for infants and toddlers.

But Steven Lomp's Indestructibles: Baby Animals (Workman Press, 2017) also represents one of the biggest advances in book publishing since Gutenberg first cranked up his printing press--a "crib ready" book that proclaims itself as rip-proof, chewable, non-toxic, and 100% washable. Book-loving parents who have cringed at what happens to the best-made of baby board books--used as chewing rings, tossed and ripped and dipped in the potty, and otherwise beaten up by babies who love them to pieces--will rejoice at the new Indestructibles series, even advertised as "dishwasher safe!"

Friday, May 11, 2018

Different Strokes: Morris Mole by Dan Yaccarino

"Then we must dig even FURTHER!" his second biggest brother declared. The rest of the brothers agreed.

Except for Morris. "I have an IDEA!" he said.

Little Morris, nattily attired in a suit, bow tie, and fedora, is not like his sturdy, hard-hatted brothers. He figures that if what you've been doing isn't working, doing more of it may not be the way to go.

While the burly brothers dig down deeper, Morris screws up his courage and decides to try digging up.

And then he tasted what he thought was a particularly beautiful blackberry.

OOPS. Short-sighted Morris has chomped down on the nose of a fox. But before the fox can chomp down on him, a wolf appears with intentions of doing the same to the fox.

"Hey, pipsqueak!" growled the wolf.

Thinking fast, Morris shoves the fox down into his tunnel and feigns total ignorance of the fox's whereabouts. Morris's help wins over the fox, and when the wolf moves on, he helps Morris gather some mole-pleasing foods and drop them down his tunnel to land right in the mole family's larder, where his empty-handed big brothers finally have some respect for Morris' offbeat ideas.

Dan Yaccarino's Morris Mole (Harper, 2017) is a jolly story of the little mole who could, the oddball little brother who at last wins his right to speak up. It's a popular premise (especially with younger siblings), and Yaccarino's charming illustrations, setting off the contrast between Morris and his husky brothers and below and above ground, almost tell the story apart from the text. Says Publishers Weekly, "Yaccarino’s crisp, retro graphics exude energy and humor while emphasizing the rewards that can come with trusting one’s instincts."

About

About Me

Retired after 32+ years as an elementary librarian, I really miss the joy of bringing together the right book with the right reader at the right time. Loving both kids and books equally as I do, perhaps helping children and the adults who care about them find good books through this blog is the next best thing to being there.
I am an Amazon associate, which means that clicking on the image of a book I reviewed or on the title of any book mentioned in the review will take you to full publishing and purchasing information, as well as other reviews and comments for most books. I also receive review copies from publishers or authors from time to time, with no implied promise that the books will be reviewed favorably or at all.